A Really Bad Day
by PunkyRabbit
Summary: When Parker, Broots, and Debbie get kidnapped, can Jarod save it from being a really bad day?


A Really Bad Day

By Punkyrabbit

As Miss Parker left her house to go to the Centre, a large black car pulled up along side the road. She did her best to ignore it, until she saw two large men get out. She didn't know what two guys with that kind of muscle would be doing there. As they moved menacingly toward her, she started to figure it out. The taller one thrust a heavy hand upon her shoulder. For a moment, she just stared at it. Then, she grabbed his arm and as she twisted it; he flopped on to the ground. The second man grabbed her from behind. As the tall one got up, and started toward her from the front, she kicked at him. When he fell once again, she bit the muscular arm that bound her. The grip on her loosened and she thrust her head backward, hitting the man square in the face. As the second man fell to the ground for the first time, the taller one got up again, and wielded a massive fist at her. Free from the hold of the second man, she was oriented in his direction. Watching him fall to the ground, she turned around just in time to get hit in the face by the fist of the tall man. She fell backward, dazed, immediately getting up again, throwing a few punches of her own. With both of the men standing again, the second one, considerably larger in stature, grabbed her, while the tall one opened the door of the shiny black car, and got out a roll of duck tape, with which he then bound her mouth. That didn't silence her, though; even through the duck tape, she still managed to vocalize. The taller man popped the trunk; now she really didn't like where this was going. She thrashed around like a wild thing, which only caused the grip on her to tighten. She was tossed into the trunk and the door was slammed shut behind her. As she lay in the dark, musty trunk, her clothes ruffled, and her hair messy from the fight, she realized just how bad her day had gotten.

Jarod walked down the long, dark hall of the warehouse. He had started working there only a few days earlier, trying to solve a mystery. He opened his red notebook. In it was a newspaper clipping dated five days earlier. A young child had been kidnapped, then not long afterwards, was murdered - one shot to the chest. He had just figured out who it was, but didn't know why – yet. The "who" was one of his co-workers, Darin Jenson, who had a wife and three kids of his own. He was on his way to Darin's room to confront him, when he saw the suspect enter the hallway, and start walking in the opposite direction. He turned into the room where the boss worked. Jarod followed, then crouched down into the shadows in such a place that he could easily listen to the people in the office, but could not be seen, for at that moment he would rather his position not be compromised. "I want out." Darin stated calmly, but firmly.

"You and I both know it's too late for that." A man said sternly.

"You're going to do it again, aren't you? There's talk about it around the warehouse. You're going to have some other innocent, unsuspecting person, commit crimes for you again, aren't you?" Darin spat the words at the man.

"Yes, but there's nothing you could do about it anyway." The boss said, waving an envelope around in the air.

Darin was trying extremely hard to conceal his anger toward the man, but he wasn't doing a very good job. Jarod saw him take a threatening step toward the man. He thought that Darin might hit the man by the desk. But, he didn't. He simply snorted at him, and stomped out of the office, rage boiling up inside him. As he started down the long hallway, Jarod silently walked behind him. Jarod saw him round the corner, and as he himself rounded it as well, he saw the man enter a room. By the time he got there Darin was sitting on the floor, with his knees up to his chest.

"Hey." Jarod said gently, keeping calm, despite the fact that he knew that Darin had kidnapped that kid. He knew that he was more likely to get some answers out of him if he remained calm.

"Hey." Darin said looking up at him.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the boss." Jarod said stooping down to eye level.

"Yeah. He's going to do it again. He's gonna…" His voice trailed off. "No. I shouldn't be telling you this."

"No, it's okay. You can trust me. He's going to…."Jarod said with an expression that told Darin that he wanted him to continue, but that he wasn't going to harm him.

Darin looked at him, not knowing if he could be trusted or not. But finally, Darin gave in. "He's going to blackmail someone else, like he did to me." He paused, but with a prompt from Jarod, continued, "He brought me here not too long ago, and got me to kidnap a little girl."

"The girl in the paper."

"Yes. The boss told me that if I didn't do what he told me to, he would kill my family. I didn't want to do it, but then, he showed me that my kids were tied up, with their mother, in the warehouse. So I kidnapped her. I found out later that she was killed." He was close to tears. "I didn't pull the trigger. But I DID kidnap her. It tore me apart to find out that he had used me to have a girl killed. She was only eight years old."

"It'll be all right" Jarod said, calmly.

"I had to work for the boss, do everything he said for me to do, and do nothing

that he said not to, or…." His voice trailed off.

"Or he would tell the police that you kidnapped the girl; the one they later found dead." Jarod said with pure disgust toward 'the boss'.

"But it wasn't me. I didn't kill her!" Darin sobbed, completely losing his composure now.

"I know. I believe you." He put a comforting hand on the upset man's shoulder. "You said that he was going to do it again. Do you know who he is targeting, this time?"

"Uh… yeah"

Jarod's face lit up. If he knew the name, he might be able to get to that person

before anything could happen to them.

"It's a man and a woman from some big place in Delaware. The boss said they

knew too much. Somethin' about his evil schemes or somethin'. He said that the man had hacked into his computer and copied all of his files, his plans for uh a bank robbery, and all his files on the murdered Asian women, and there was a whole lot more too. I didn't hear that from him; but news gets around pretty quickly here. He said that the woman knew even more than that and that he couldn't let any of those secrets get out."

"Do you know their names?"

"Uh… yeah…there was a Mr. uh…" He shook his head slightly, and sighed like

he couldn't quite remember, "It was something like Brookes or… uh"

Jarod's face fell again, "Was it Broots?"

"Yeah! And…and a Miss uh… Parkinson or Park…or" He said drawn out,

uncertainly.

"Parker?"

"Yeah that was it!"

Jarod shifted his weight uneasily.

Sensing the tension, and not knowing whether or not he should find out why,

Darin said tentatively, "Do you know them?"

"Yeah." Jarod said. "Was that all you knew about this 'evil scheme'"

"No, there was something else…I don't know." Darin said, getting frustrated.

"It's OK. If you remember it, let me know, OK?" The other man nodded.

"Sorry I couldn't give you any more." he said.

"It's OK. You took a great risk in telling me this much. You couldn't be sure if

I would tell the boss or not."

At that point, the disgruntled man felt he needed someone to trust, whatever the consequence. But he had a feeling about Jarod; he was a nice guy who could actually be trusted. Darin saw it in his eyes. So, concluding that the man sitting across from him wouldn't tell the boss anything about their conversation, Darin stated confidently, "Yeah, but I know now you won't." Then, with Jarod's help, he rose and headed for the door.

"Hey" Jarod said, as Darin turned back around. "I'm gonna stop this guy, you can count on it; this isn't going to happen to anyone else."

"Okay. Thanks." Darin said, sincerely, as the man standing in front of him nodded his response. Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Oh! I remember that other thing that I had wanted to tell you. The boss said something about another person…a daughter, either the man's or the woman's. I didn't really get all of the details, but I think they're going to kill her." He said wrenching his face at the thought of that happening again.

"Debbie." Jarod stated, as he thought of Broots' young daughter. Then, realizing just how terribly bad this could be, he ran out of the room, nearly running into Darin as he went, "Sorry. I'll talk to you later. Gotta go!"

As the man in the black leather jacket darted down the hallway and rounded the corner, Darin just stood in the doorway watching in that direction until Jarod was out of sight, then he walked down the hallway, in the opposite direction.

Jarod ran as fast as he could to his apartment, which was only two blocks away from the warehouse. He snatched up his telephone, slightly winded, and dialed.

"Hello?" a voice answered the phone.

"Sydney!" Jarod blurted out, tension building in his voice.

"Jarod!" The man said with recognition, then sensing the tension in the younger man's voice, continued, "What's wrong?"

"Where's Miss Parker?"

"She hasn't come in yet."

Jarod checked his watch. It was two hours after she was supposed to be at the Centre; it wasn't like her to be late, not that late. The whole day was getting worse and worse by the minute. "Broots?"

"He's not here either. Jarod, what's wrong?"

He let out a heavy sigh, "Thanks Sydney."

"Jarod." He was answered by a dial tone. Sighing, Sydney put down the telephone, and realized that this was becoming cliché.

Two men, both dressed in black suits, entered a house, and saw Broots standing in the kitchen, fixing pop-tarts. Looking in at the man, fairly scrawny, compared to them, they thought that this would be easy. The shorter man went one way and the other went behind Broots. Broots saw the shorter man, but it was too late. He picked up the toaster and thrust it at the man, but he blocked it, and swung a massive fist at the man who held the pop-tarts. As he watched the fist being hurled at him, Broots grabbed desperately at the counter, trying to find something to slow the man down, then noticed the pop-tarts in his hand, so thrust those at the man as well. But his efforts were futile, and the fist came in contact with his face, and then…blackness.

As Broots began to regain consiousness, he reassured himself, thinking that the whole incident at his house was just a dream. Then, he realized that his face hurt. He tried to move his arms, but he couldn't. He opened his eyes hesitantly, hoping he would be in his house, but not really expecting it. He sighed deeply…not his house…not a dream. He looked around, wondering where he was; it was a big building; he was tied to a pole, which was attached to one side of the room, but he still had a pretty good view of the room. Across the room, there was a giant door; he figured that the building must be some kind of factory or shipment yard or something, for why else would there be such a big door?

His thought process was interrupted by voices…two men. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Then, he heard a car door, and muffled screams. He watched as the massive door opened, and he saw a figure, attempting to get away from two much larger figures. Then, as the three figures stepped into the light, he saw that the first figure was… "Miss Parker!"

Miss Parker, dazed from that punch in the face and drained from the fight, was tied to a pole similar to the one that Broots was attached to. She had a pretty bad headache, and was slightly dizzy. So, doing her best to not make it any worse, she looked up slowly, trying to get a feel for her surroundings. She knew that she couldn't get away, but she felt like she had to do something in this situation. Hearing a noise, she turned her head slowly toward it, revealing another pole, and…Broots. "Broots?", she said weakly.

"Yeah.", the man answered.

As she still tried to check out her surroundings, she felt around at the ropes that bound her, and found several tightly wrapped ones, and…a looser one. She clawed at it anxiously, and as she did so, she looked up and saw another car pull up. She noticed that Broots was looking at her strangely, because of the odd position she was in, trying to free herself. So, not wanting him to say anything, thus revealing her attempts to the men that now approached, she shot Broots a look that told him to keep quiet.

As he nodded in agreement, the big door opened again. In came a large man in a black suit holding a small figure, by the arms. Behind him came another man to close the big door from the inside. As the first man stepped into the light, Broots saw the small figure more clearly, it was…Broots gasped, "Debbie!" he half- shouted, half-whispered. She was taken to a pole that was beside Broots' and almost directly across from Miss Parker.

After she had worked for about five minutes, just long enough for the men to get Debbie tied up, the ropes fell to the ground, and her hands were released. So, she stood there waiting for the right moment. One of the men, closely followed by the other, walked directly in front of Miss Parker, and she thought it was excellent timing. She kicked the man in the chest, and sprung at the other one, nearly knocking him over. But he mostly caught her, and held on to her long enough, for the other man to come over and grab her from behind, and reattach her to the pole. As Miss Parker realized that there was no getting away, and that twice, her plans to escape had been foiled by a man grabbing he from behind, she muttered, more to herself, than anything, "I really need to invest in a pair of eyes in the back of my head."

Jarod darted back to the warehouse and peered in. He saw Miss Parker, Broots and Debbie, each tied to a separate pole. He sighed, and entered the warehouse. Because he was wearing his hat, none of them noticed who he was, which was just how he wanted it, for now. He headed straight to the boss' office, and once he got there, he heard the boss talking about this plan. So, figuring that he would probably need the recording later, Jarod whipped out his tape recorder, and began taping. "She'll shoot the girl, and we'll have it on tape. Then, if she says anything, we show the tape to the police." The voice paused for a moment, waiting for the person on the other side of the phone to finish. Jarod took that opportunity to sneak a peek through the crack in the office door. When he saw the man worrying the telephone cord with a thumbless hand, he darted back against the wall before he could be seen. The speaker then resumed, "Well he's been a thorn in my side long enough." Jarod already numerous reasons to dislike this man, but this new development pushed 'dislike' into active hatred. He pocketed his tape recorder, and headed back to his apartment.

He pulled out an empty pistol, from the cabinet, along with a box of blanks. He picked up the telephone once more.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sydney." Clink, Clink, he dropped the blanks gently into the weapon, he was clutching.

"Jarod! I was getting worried."

"Sydney, I've found Miss Parker and Broots." The other man thought he sounded a bit disturbed, but he continued, "They've been kidnapped, along with Debbie. I know where they are. They're in the warehouse on Buckingham." He gently laid down the dangerous piece of metal, after it had been loaded, and sauntered over to his lap top, pushed a few buttons, then continued, "I'm sending you a map."

"Jarod…" The older man started, but his only response was a dial tone. He sighed, and went over to his computer and sure enough, there was a map there.

Broots was still on edge about this whole thing. He still had several questions, that were unanswered. Who would want to kidnap them anyway, and why? How were they going to get out of it? Were they going to get out of it? Did Jarod know about it? Jarod knew most of the things that went on in their lives. While he was pondering over that, he saw a tallish man in a hat head toward the pole, to which, his daughter was attached. As the man stooped to be at the same level as Debbie, Broots felt rage boiling up inside him at the thought of any harm coming to his daughter. "You get away from her!" he screamed, but was completely ignored. He continued screaming, more because he felt that he needed to do something, and that it was the only thing that he could do, rather than because it actually had any impact. But eventually, the man stood up and walked away in the opposite direction.

Not much later, a group of men dressed in black suits came and two went over to Miss Parker. One untied her while the other one stood there pointing his gun at her. Once she was untied, the other man pulled out his gun and pointed it at her as well. She was led to the rest of the group. Then, with the guns still pointed at her, to ensure that she would not try to run, the group went closer to her. One man stepped forward and handed her a gun.

She stared at the weapon surprised, then looked up and saw a familiar face. She took the gun, looking back and forth between the gun and the person who had handed it to her: Jarod. Knowing what she was supposed to do, for she was turned in Debbie's direction, she wondered if she should or not. While she was still hesitating, she heard Broots shouting at her, for he knew what she was supposed to do too. She glanced back at Jarod, whom she trusted, raised the gun so that it was pointed at Debbie, and fired. Debbie went limp. Broots struggled with his ropes, screaming Debbie's name over and over.

At that point, several black cars, from the Centre, drove up. When Sydney gave the command, they began amassing a few sweeper teams, who commenced the process of taking the boss's workers away, without him present, since he had seen them and had escaped the building. Miss Parker, trying to take in all that had happened within the past few hours, walked over to Broots, who was hanging his head in remorse. "I'm sorry, Broots" She said sincerely, as she began to untie him. Since Debbie's pole was fairly close to his own . Broots didn't have to go far before falling in front of his limp daughter's body.

"What, for killing my daughter?!" He exclaimed, cradling Debbie's head, not able to control the rage that he felt toward Miss Parker.

"No."

"Whaat!" he said, confused.

Jarod stepped up from out of the shadows, "For not letting you in on the plan." He then turned to Debbie, "OK, Debbie, you can stop acting now."

And with that, Debbie sat up. "Daddy!"

Broots was still crying, only now it was tears of joy. He turned to thank Jarod, but he and Miss Parker had turned around and were walking away, to leave him alone with his daughter.

Realizing that there was no getting out of this situation, Jarod held out his hands, for them to be cuffed. But, instead, Miss Parker took one of the hands, and shook it. Jarod simply stood there, surprised. As the sweeper approached, Miss Parker glanced quickly back at them, then said, "I hope to see you around sometime." Jarod just stood there rooted to that very spot. As he watched the sweepers come even closer, she repeated, a little more emphatically, "Hope to see you around sometime." She turned and gave the approaching sweeper team a look that she hoped would get them to turn around and let her handle it. When that is exactly what happened, she sighed and turned back to face Jarod.

Realizing that Miss Parker was actually going to let him go, he turned around and began walking to the other exit of the warehouse. Then, remembering the recording of Lyle's voice discussing the plan to blackmail Miss Parker, he turned back around and tossed it to her, then continued to the door.

Broots and Debbie were already in the car, and before she got in the car too, Miss Parker turned to the hill overlooking the parking lot, and when she saw Jarod, she whispered, "Thanks, Jarod."


End file.
